


Fate

by MerelyDreaming



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, F/M, Marauders' Era, Romance, Violence, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-03
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerelyDreaming/pseuds/MerelyDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a time of war, it is important to keep your friends close. With Voldemort gaining power, the wizarding world is growing more dangerous every day. Can a group of friends learn to stay true to themselves and each other? Can they learn how to love and how to fight for what they believe? Will they all survive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is just a story I'm writing in my spare time as a tool to improve my writing. There are flaws and imperfections. This story has been in the works for two years and as such, the writing changes a bit as the story goes on as I try to improve.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter and the world JK Rowling created. I only own the characters you do not recognize from Harry Potter.

### Chapter One

### 

_Fate has brought us to this time and place...It is up to us to decide where to go from here._

A loud boom momentarily filled the Gryffindor common room, followed by a cloud of smoke and raucous laughter. As the smoke cleared away, James Potter’s scowling face appeared, blackened by soot. Grumbling irritably, he set down his hand of Exploding Snap cards and removed his glasses, using the sleeve of his robes to wipe them clean. His fellow Marauders continued to laugh at his expense, driven on by the cross look upon his face. James ran his sleeve across his face in an attempt to clear off the soot, but it only resulted in smudging it further.  
  
“Shut it, gits,” he growled, giving up on removing the soot and replacing his glasses. He only succeeded in causing the laughter to grow louder.  
  
“Sorry, Prongs,” Remus managed to choke out as he attempted to calm his laughter, a losing battle. “But you were so confident going into this game. I’ve never seen anyone lose that badly.”  
  
“Not to mention how shocked you looked when you realized that you’d lost,” Peter gasped out before dissolving into another bout of laughter.  
  
James’s scowl deepened. “Laugh all you want. I say Padfoot cheated.”  
  
Sirius shot James an offended look. “I would never, Prongs. I hate that you would even think that.”  
  
James rolled his eyes as Sirius grinned at him, setting down his winning hand on the coffee table in front of them.  
  
“Want to have another go?” Sirius asked, gathering up the cards.  
  
“Not with you I don’t,” James replied bitterly.  
  
“You ought to be studying, anyway,” Remus spoke up from the chair he sat in, a Transfiguration text book open on his lap. “The O.W.L.s aren’t over yet. Not until Transfiguration in the morning.”  
  
“I’m bloody tired of studying,” James replied.  
  
“Besides,” Sirius added, “We’ve got Transfiguration in the bag.”  
  
“Yeah,” James agreed. “You don’t accomplish what we did without excelling in Transfiguration.”  
  
“If you’re so proud, why don’t you share your accomplishments with Lily?” Remus asked even though they had decided long ago that should they succeed, no one would ever be told their secret. “It’s bound to impress her.”  
  
James’s face fell. “She hasn’t so much as looked my way since this afternoon, no matter what I say to her.”  
  
“What about Dawson?” Sirius asked, giving in to Remus and pulling his Transfiguration book into his lap, absentmindedly flipping the pages to somewhere in the middle of the book. “She’s her best friend. Talk to her about it if you’re that upset.”  
  
James shook his head. “You saw the way she looked at me before she went after Evans. Between the two of them, I’ve already been chewed out plenty for the day.”  
  
“Maybe they’re trying to tell you something,” Peter said, causing James’s gaze to turn to him.  
  
“Yeah, that girls are too touchy.”  
  
“Maybe it’s just the girls you hang around, Prongs,” Sirius said, his gaze on his book. “Morgan Devereux certainly agrees with me plenty.”  
  
James pulled a face. “A bit too much information there, mate.”  
  
Sirius grinned and raised his eyebrows at James just as the girl in question sauntered into the common room. A fellow fifth year, Morgan Devereux was easily the girl in Gryffindor House who turned the most heads. She was tall, with long dark hair and brown eyes that always seemed to have a devious glint to them. Despite living so far north, her skin always was perfectly tanned, giving her an exotic look. She was one of the more desired girls in the school, but she favored Sirius and usually saved her time for him.  
  
Sirius was known for spending a lot of his time with multiple girls, stealing away in a broom cupboard between classes or after curfew. There were many girls who were after his heart, but he did not tie himself down, moving between most girls that showed interest- as long as he deemed them worthy of his time. Morgan was a rarity in that he always went back to her for more. She was more of a constant than any of the other girls, but they still couldn’t be called anything more than friends with benefits. Sirius would have what you could call a relationship with a girl every now and then, but they were few and far between, and lasted two weeks at most.  
  
Morgan glanced at Sirius, meeting his eyes and giving him the smallest of gestures before heading to the back corner of the common room. Sirius’s grin grew, and he closed his Transfiguration book with a snap.  
  
“I’ll see you gents later,” he said, leaning over and dropping the book into James’s lap before standing, stretching his arms over his head before sauntering off to where Morgan had gone to wait for him.  
  
“Whore,” James called after him.  
  
Sirius waved his hand at him, but did not reply.  
  
James glanced at Remus and Peter to remark to them about Sirius’s habits, but both of their attentions were riveted on their Transfiguration textbook and notes. Sighing, James glanced at the textbook Sirius had deposited in his lap. Reluctantly, he cracked the book opened. He didn’t really have anything better to do anyway.  
  
“James?”  
  
Raising his head, he squinted up at the girl standing over him. With her long and wavy honey-colored hair, large blue eyes, and small frame, Samantha Dawson was not the most intimidating looking girl, but he still shifted uncomfortably beneath her gaze. He frowned at the girl who was her sister in every way but blood, nearly flinching away when she shifted her arms to cross over her chest.  
  
“What do you want?” he asked her. “I thought you were mad at me.”  
  
Samantha shrugged and dropped down beside him. She turned so that she was facing him, her elbow resting on the back of the couch, her cheek resting in the palm of her hand.  
  
“Lily’s the one who’s mad at you,” she reminded him.  
  
“Yes,” he agreed. “And you’re the one who shouted at me before going after her.”  
  
“You were being an arse.”  
  
“Oh, come on. Snape’s an absolute git. You hate him just as much as I do.”  
  
“Yes,” she admitted, inclining her head slightly. “But I also respect the fact that he and Lily are…were…best friends.”  
  
James’s hazel eyes brightened. “So they’re no longer friends then?”  
  
Her face twisted into a scowl. “Don’t act so pleased with yourself. It was terrible, what he said to her.”  
  
James shrugged. “I only helped her realize what an arse he really is. He hangs out with Rosier and his group. She should have seen it coming.”  
  
“She doesn’t know about them like we do. You can’t blame her.”  
  
“Haven’t you told her?”  
  
“Sure, but you can’t really understand the extent unless you live it, I think,” she mused.  
  
“I guess,” he replied. “So are you ready for the exam tomorrow?”  
  
Her face fell, causing him to laugh.  
  
“Come on. You take the most excruciatingly detailed notes in that class, and whenever you have a spare moment, your nose is buried in said notes or the textbook and you have your wand out practicing. There’s no way you can’t know the information.”  
  
“Easy for you to say,” she told him. “You and Black are the best in our year at Transfiguration. Which is surprising, if you ask me.”  
  
“Why is that so surprising?” he exclaimed, insulted.  
  
“The two of you aren’t the most studious is all.”  
  
“Sure,” he grumbled before gesturing at the book on his lap. “Want some last minute tutoring? It couldn’t hurt. Maybe a last minute miracle will happen and you’ll suddenly understand it all.”  
  
She narrowed her eyes at his last comment, but then gave him a grateful smile. “I think that would be a good idea.”  
  
James moved closer to her, moving the book so that it rested in both of their laps and flipping through the pages, looking for material he thought would most likely be on the exam.  
  
“I’m never going to make an E,” Samantha said softly as she looked down on the pages James had stopped on. She’d studied them several times, but still wasn’t entirely sure how to execute the spell they called for.  
  
“Hey,” James said, voice stern. “You can’t talk like that or you’ll never get through. Have you gotten Adrien to help?”  
  
Samantha nodded. “He was helping me throughout the year but he’s been busy studying for N.E.W.T.s lately. He and Nichole are in the library studying for their last test, I think.”  
  
“Your brother never had any problem with Transfiguration.”  
  
She scowled at his comparison of her and Adrien. “I seem to be the only one in the family who doesn’t understand this subject,” she said bitterly.  
  
“If you’d rather be tutored by someone who isn’t going to make fun of you for not quite grasping the subject,” Remus drawled from where he was seated, his eyes still glued to his book, “I’d be more than happy to be of assistance.”  
  
“I may need to take you up on that,” Samantha said, looking sideways at James as she made to stand.  
  
James reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back down.  
  
“I’ll help,” he said, briefly glaring over at Remus. He pointed down at the page and began to explain the spell on the page. She leaned over to get a better look, running what he said through her mind in a hope to memorize it. She hoped that she would be able to pull off the exam in the morning. It was the only way she would be able to pursue being a healer. 

~~~

Twenty-four hours later, the common room was fairly quiet, a surprise since the fifth and seventh years had been expected to be celebrating their completion of their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. But they seemed to be out of energy and were sprawled in different areas of the common room or already up in their rooms, collapsed on their beds. The other students, having been snapped at to be quiet for months while the fifth and seventh years had tried to study, were careful to be quiet in fear of being snapped at again.

Exhaustedly running her hand through her hair, Samantha descended the stairs from the girls’ dorms and into the common room. A quick glance around the common room found her brother stretched out on one of the couches near the fire. His eyes were closed and his shaggy brown hair looked as if he had not bothered to take a brush to it at all that day. She shook her head at him as she approached.

When she reached him, she dropped down, sitting on his legs. He grunted softly at her sudden weight and cracked open an eyelid, revealing an eye just as blue as his sister’s.

“What?” he said, sounding slightly irritated over his rest being interrupted.

“I would have thought you would have been celebrating the end of exams with Nichole,” Samantha said, ignoring her brother’s irritation.

Adrien made the effort to fully open his eyes and he blinked at her for a moment before he replied. “We decided to take the night for ourselves. We’re too exhausted to really do much more than lie around.” His eyes narrowed accusingly. “I wasn’t planning on the added effort of talking.”

She grinned at him, leaning back against the sofa to tell him that she did not plan on moving. “Sorry to inconvenience you.”

His legs shifted beneath her before he kicked them upwards, pitching her forward and propelling her to her feet. She stumbled when her feet hit the ground, and her knee knocked painfully into the coffee table before she was able to regain her footing. She turned to glare at her brother, who was watching her as he chuckled. The look on her face only caused him to laugh harder. She glared at him a moment longer before she sank to the floor, crossing her legs, propping her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her palms, staring up at him.

“You’re not very nice,” she huffed at him.

He inclined his head towards her. “I could say the same to you what with the way you just dropped on me.”

“It was the only way I could have gotten your attention.”

One of his eyebrows rose in a way that reminded her very much of their father. “I’m fairly certain calling my name would have sufficed.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps. But that’s much more boring.”

“That’s a matter of opinion,” he muttered, but she could tell that she had won, and that he would amuse her at least for a little while and hold a conversation with her.

“How do you think you did on the exam?” he asked her, a sigh in his voice as he realized he would not be left alone. She knew him well enough that he was only pretending to be annoyed.

She shrugged, none too pleased with the change of topic. She had decided not to think about it until she got her letter with the results that summer, and Adrien was making that a hard thing to do.

“Well, I hope you did well,” he said. “I’d hate for all the time I spent tutoring you this year have gone to waste.”

She frowned deeply at him. “Whether or not I wasted your time is not what I’m concerned about.”

He gave her an easy-going smile. “It’ll be fine, Kiwi. I think you understand Transfiguration more than you give yourself credit.”

“I wish I was as certain as you seem to be.”

Adrien watched her for a moment before he shifted on the couch so that he could reach into his robes. A moment later, he drew out a piece of folded parchment.

“I got this in the post the other day.”

He pushed himself up, swinging his legs off of the sofa, as he held the letter out to her. She reached up to take it, curious as to what it was. Unfolding the parchment, she noticed how crinkled it was and how worn the edges were, as if it had been read countless times. She was vaguely aware of James sitting himself beside Adrien as she read over the letter.

“You’ve been invited to play for Puddlemere United?” she exclaimed, looking back up at him with a grin.

“That’s brilliant!” James said excitedly, clapping him on the back. “Have you accepted yet?”

Leaning forward, James snatched the letter out of Samantha’s hand so that he could read it, ignoring the look she gave him.

“I’m not going to accept,” Adrien said quietly, causing James to freeze, his excitement disappearing.

Samantha was not so surprised. Though she’d been excited for him, she’d doubted he would accept. He had another career in mind.

“Not going to accept?”

His face was filled with more incredulity that she thought would be possible. His mouth gaped open, his hazel eyes wide behind his glasses, the letter threatening to fall from his hand.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one that a lot of people would kill for. They’re one of the best quidditch teams in the country. Why wouldn’t you accept?”

Adrien appeared deep in thought for a moment before he answered. “It is a wonderful opportunity,” he agreed. “But I have other plans.”

“What other plans do you have that could possibly be more important than playing for Puddlemere?”

“I’m going to join the aurors,” Adrien replied.

James’s mouth snapped closed, his face relaxed, and a sober demeanor fell over the group.

“There’s a war starting out there,” Adrien continued, “One that’s already claimed a lot of casualties, and the numbers are just going to keep climbing. I’ve watched my family fight for what they believe, I’ve watched them die for what they believe.” He turned to face James and there was a determined glint in his eyes. “And I’ll be damned if I don’t join them.”

Silence fell over them. The war had been starting for awhile now. Adrien and Samantha had already lost most of their family to fighting for the war. Their father was Mad Eye Moody’s, the head auror, second in command. When home, they were exposed to what Voldemort and his followers were doing to those who did not support their ideas. At school, they were able to escape and, besides stories that occasionally appeared in the Daily Prophet, they didn’t hear much of it. But Adrien was done with school, and he would become just one more member of Samantha’s family who was going to risk their life to try and make things right. She knew that it wouldn’t be long before the war never left their minds, not completely.

“I’ve been thinking more and more of becoming an auror,” James said softly. “Dad would love if I followed in his footsteps.” James’s father, Charles Potter, had been an auror, though he was now retired. “And I’d like to know that whatever I’m doing, it’s making a difference.”

Samantha drew her knees up, folding her arms on top of them and resting her head on her arms. She never liked it when conversations turned to the war. It always made her stomach flutter worriedly. They tended to avoid talking about the war, especially at school. Adrien always made a point to avoid it when she was around. He knew how much it worried her. But it was getting harder and harder to avoid talking about it. It was impossible to avoid talking about something that was becoming an everyday part of life.  
Adrien nodded. “My dad’s thrilled. My mum hates the idea but she understands.”

“Are you going to join the Order?”

“Yes. I’ve already spoken to Dumbledore. I’ll start going to the meetings once I leave school.”

The Order of the Phoenix was the group of witches and wizards Albus Dumbledore had gathered together to fight against Voldemort and his followers, and the war they were leaving in their path. Adrien and Samantha’s mother, father, aunt, and uncle were all involved, as were James’s parents. It was dangerous. Voldemort knew they were a threat, and targeted them when he could. Their homes were surrounded by the strongest of protections charms, their meeting places kept secret with spells. But sometimes, information was leaked. Sometimes protection charms failed. This was how most of the Dawson family, once large and prominent, was down to its last six members. This was why the Order’s numbers were dwindling.

“I’m going to join the Order once I finish school,” James said. “It will be nice, knowing what’s going on at the meetings instead of trying to guess from what mum and dad are saying.”

Samantha had similar plans, but she didn’t say so out loud. James knew she did, and Adrien knew she intended to join, but he was against it, so she avoided talking of it in front of him. James seemed to have noticed that she had fallen silent when their conversation turned, because he glanced at her before changing the subject.

“We’re going to miss you around here next year. You’re the best quidditch captain we’ve had in years.”

Adrien gave him a smug look. “I know.”

Samantha snorted. “Don’t sound arrogant or anything,” she muttered.

“He won us the quidditch cup this year,” James told her. “He’s allowed to sound arrogant.”

“Sorry if I don’t agree.”

“Just because you don’t like quidditch-“

“I like quidditch,” she protested. “I just don’t like brooms.”

“A pity,” James said. “If you were anything as good as your brother, we wouldn’t have to worry about finding a chaser that will be good enough to replace him.”

She shook her head. “You will never get me on a broomstick, Potter.”

James gave her an impish grin. “That’s what you think.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t even think about it.”

Adrien chuckled. “If you succeed, make sure you take a picture for me.”

Samantha gave him a dirty look. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re my brother.”

“I didn’t exactly get a choice in that matter,” Adrien said with a grin. “But I’m going to bed.” He stood and ruffled the top of her hair before heading towards the stairway to the boys’ dorm. “Goodnight,” he called over his shoulder, ignoring the glare she gave him as she smoothed her hair.

“I think he’s got the right idea,” James said, rising to his feet and stretching. “I could sleep for hours now that those bloody exams are out of my way.”

“Tell me about it,” Samantha agreed, reaching up to grasp James’s offered hands and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

“I’ve come up with a brilliant plan to get Lily to speak to me again,” James told her as they headed towards the back of the common room.

“The two of you were never really on speaking terms, James,” Samantha pointed out as she headed towards the stairs to her dorm. James followed.

“Yes, thank you for reminding me,” he said, leaning against the wall at the foot of the stairs. Sighing, Samantha paused to listen to him. “But last night, I couldn’t sleep for a bit, so as I was lying awake in my bed, I came up with a brilliant plan to get us back to where we were.”

“If you hadn’t been torturing Snape in the first place, she wouldn’t have been forced to defend him, and if she hadn’t been forced to defend him, he never would have called her what he did. You deserve for her to be completely ignoring you..”

James rolled his eyes impatiently. “Just listen.”

She sighed. “Alright, alright.”

“I figured out that if I come up with an apology that shows her how mature I can be, she’ll come running back into my arms.”

“She was never in your arms, James.”

“A small flaw in a plan that is otherwise brilliant.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow at him. “Wait a moment. Did you say that it took you lying awake half the night to think of apologizing to her?”

“It’s brilliant, isn’t it?” he asked her excitedly.

She shook her head at him. “I do have to admit, it might help in some way.”

“Great,” James replied. “Can you help me figure out what to say?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on Sam.”

“No. Lily’s my friend and I’d rather not get stuck in the middle of this. Get Remus to help.”

James sighed heavily. “Fine.”

She smiled. “Goodnight, James.”

“Goodnight,” James grumbled after her as she disappeared up the stairs. He turned and began to head to his dorm to find Remus to harass him about helping him come up with a decent apology. Sleep could come later.

~~~

“He’s still out there,” Samantha said bitterly to the red-haired girl sprawled across her bed. “He won’t leave until you come talk to him. He’s threatening to sleep in the corridor.” 

Lily groaned loudly as she pushed herself into a sitting position. “I don’t want to talk to him. Or see him for that matter.”

Samantha shrugged. “I’m fairly certain the only way he’ll leave is if you go tell him to yourself.”

“I’ll bet if you asked Potter and Black, they’d get rid of him for you,” Amber Channing said from the bed across from Lily’s. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a messy bun while she painted her nails, likely getting ready for a night with her latest boy, a sixth year Hufflepuff.

“No,” Lily and Samantha snapped at once.

Amber shook her head at them, glancing up from her nails. “It was just a suggestion. You’re the one who doesn’t want to talk to him.”

“Can you blame me after what he called me?” Lily asked her.

“I tried to tell you,” Samantha said. “Especially when he started hanging around with Rosier and his group.

“I know,” Lily sighed. “And I did try to talk to him about that group back before Christmas. He tried to turn it back to Potter and his friends, but I told him the difference was that they didn’t use Dark Magic. He seemed to listen to me but nothing really changed, and I just pretended not to notice.”

“It’s best to just stay away from that whole group,” Samantha said. “The lot of them are no good.”

“I wish he’d never gotten mixed up with them,” Lily sighed. “He didn’t used to be like this.”

Samantha shrugged. “He was put in Slytherin. It was bound to happen,” she told her, though she disagreed with what Lily had said. She was certain Snape had always been the way he was.

Lily stood from her bed, looking as if she were about to march to her death. “I suppose I’ll have to go ask him to leave. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Amber and Samantha watched her leave before turning back to one another.

“I honestly can’t say I’m too upset about what happened,” Amber told Samantha. “I didn’t like her hanging around with Snape.”

“I hate to agree,” Samantha replied. “But I wasn’t too angry about it either.”

Amber snorted. “You could have fooled me. What with the way you told off Potter.”

“He was being an arse to Lily, too, not just Snape.”

“You really ought to teach him why Lily hates him. If he’d learn to be less…Potter-like, he might have a chance.”

“I’ve tried countless times. He’s over exuberant. He’s always been that way.”

“ I see Lily’s already cracked and gone crawling back to her Slytherin boyfriend.”

They turned to find Morgan in the doorway, a sneer on her face. Beside her was Courtney Lismore, another dorm mate and Morgan’s shadow. Courtney’s light brown hair was never out of place and she always wore clothing that accented her olive green eyes. When she didn’t have to wear the uniform black robes that students were required to wear to class. She was nearly as popular with the boys as Morgan was, though Courtney always made a point to stay away from Sirius Black, likely by Morgan’s orders.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” Samantha told her dryly, “But she’s only asking him to leave.”

“With guys like Potter and Snape chasing her around, she doesn’t seem to have much a future, does she?”

“She’s got a better future than you,” Amber snapped. “At least she doesn’t go around throwing herself at any boy she can get her hands on.”

“You’re one to talk, Channing,” Courtney spoke up.

Amber’s eyes narrowed but she remained silent. She didn’t need to explain herself to anyone, especially Morgan and Courtney.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Samantha asked Morgan. “I hear it’s been awhile since you’ve thrown yourself at Black. He may forget how desperately you want him and find someone else to entertain him.”

Morgan pursed her lips. “I don’t think there’s any chance of that. There’s not much better to choose from. At least not in Gryffindor.”

Samantha snorted. “As if I’d be interested in a boy like Black anyway.”

“No,” Morgan agreed. “Only boys like McCalman.”

Samantha’s mouth snapped closed and her gaze dropped from Morgan’s. Amber’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Morgan glanced between them, a smirk on her face.

“See you guys later,” she said before spinning on her heel and heading out of the dorm, Courtney following behind her.

“Don’t listen to them,” Amber said to Samantha once the door had closed behind them. “They have no idea what they’re talking about.”

“The whole school knows,” Samantha argued. “When I broke up with Oliver, he made sure everyone knew about it.”

“Yeah, but he told everyone that when he told you how he felt about you, you ran. And that’s not what happened. So technically, they don’t know anything about that.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Is that supposed to make me feel better about it?”

Amber opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted when the door to their dorm burst open and Lily came storming in. Silently, they watched her as she made her way to her bed and fell forward onto it, pressing her face to her pillow.

“So, how did it go?” Amber asked, breaking the silence.

With a frustrated sigh, Lily rolled over to look at them. “He tried to apologize. Said that it only slipped out. I told him that it was too late; that I’ve been making excuses for him for years and that no one can even understand why I talk to him. I told him that he doesn’t ever deny that he and his little Death Eater friends are aiming to join You-Know-Who. He didn’t even deny it then. I told him I couldn’t do it anymore; that we’ve chosen different paths. And I left.”

“You’re better off not hanging around him anymore anyway,” Amber said. “Like you said, he’s well on his way to being a Death Eater. You don’t want to be associated with him.”

Lily shrugged. “I suppose so.”

“Is he still out there?”

“Merlin, I hope not. I have to go on patrol with Remus soon and I don’t want to have to talk to him again. What if he still hasn’t left?”

Samantha sighed and stood from her bed. “I’ll go check and get rid of him if he’s still there.”

As she made her way through the common room, Samantha hoped that Snape had left. She really did not want to talk to him. Only the fact that Lily probably didn’t want to talk to him even more had made her offer to go check for her. When she climbed out of the portrait hole, it didn’t take her long to spot his dark figure slumped against the wall and she couldn’t ignore the disappointment. She’d hoped that he would have left.

“Why are you still here?” she asked him as she approached, not trying to sound friendly. “Lily made it perfectly clear that she wants nothing to do with you anymore.”

He narrowed his eyes at her as he straightened up from the wall.

“It’s none of your business,” he told her, his voice a low growl. His greasy black hair hung in his face, partly obscuring his dark eyes, and far from the first time, she wondered how Lily could ever have been friends with him.

“Lily’s my friend,” she replied. “That automatically makes it my business.”

“You’re just like the rest of your family, getting involved with things that you’re better off staying out of.”

“At least I’m standing up for what’s right instead of following someone who thinks he’s above everyone else.”

He scoffed. “I happen to agree with the Dark Lord.”

“And you’re just like the rest of them. I suggest you leave. Lily doesn’t want to see you.”

Snape’s eyes glinted angrily as he stepped closer to her. She clenched her jaw tightly and returned his glare as he stood over her, looking at her down his nose.

“You’re not very smart, are you?” he asked her lowly. “Making an enemy with every single Slytherin in this school.”

“Is there a problem here?”

The voice came from behind Snape, who stepped away from Samantha and turned to find Sirius Black staring hatefully at him.

“What are you doing here, Snivellus?”

“I was just leaving,” Snape snapped.

With one last glare at Samantha, Snape strode away down the corridor, brushing past Sirius, who turned to watch him leave. Once Snape was out of sight, Sirius turned back to Samantha.

“You’re welcome, Dawson,” he said to her when she remained silent.

She rolled her eyes. “I was doing fine without your help.”

“Really?” He raised a dark eyebrow. “It seemed to me that you couldn’t get him to leave.”

“I would have,” she snapped.

He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. Whatever you say.”

She watched him a moment longer before she turned and headed back into the common room. Sirius watched her go, and when she disappeared into the portrait hole, he shook his head and let out a short laugh. It always amused him to talk to her. She was one of the few girls who didn’t chase after him, and he enjoyed talking to someone who wasn’t trying to talk him into a broom cupboard, even if all she did was snap at him. With another shake of his head, he followed her into the common room to find his friends. Summer was closing in and they had a lot to do before they were separated for the two months of summer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter and the world JK Rowling created. I only own the characters you do not recognize from Harry Potter.

In what felt like no time at all, the students were on the Hogwarts Express, speeding through the English countryside towards King’s Cross and their families. Not long after lunch time, Remus was off patrolling the corridors and the remaining three Marauders continued to entertain themselves in their compartment. James and Peter were busying themselves with trading food that they had just bought from the trolley. Sirius had slowly grown silent throughout the trip, and was currently staring pensively out the window. He dreaded holidays, endless days spent with his family who, despite having not joined him, supported the Dark Lord and his ideas. His days at home were spent being ignored by his father, having his brother shooting dirty looks at him as they passed in the hallways, and being shouted at by his mother about how much of a disgrace he was to the Black family. 

Sirius was broken from his thoughts when something hit him in the head. Startled, he turned to find a chocolate frog resting on the seat beside him. He glanced up to find James watching him.

“Enjoy your freedom while you have it, mate,” James told him. “No use dreading the inevitable.”

Sirius didn’t quite agree with him, but he still picked up the chocolate frog and began to unwrap it.

“Are you sure you don’t just want to come home with me?” James asked him. “My parents would love to have you.”

Sirius shook his head as he looked at the card, scowling when he found it was another Morgana. He had a whole stack of those. “Wish I could, Prongs. But I’d rather not find out what dear old mum will do when I don’t bother to even come home.”

James shrugged. “Suit yourself, Padfoot. I’ll just keep my eye out for the owl informing me that you’re coming to stay. Are you going to be able to visit at all this summer Peter?”

“Dunno,” Peter replied. “Dad wants me to help him in his shop in Liverpool. He wants me to take it over eventually.”

Peter’s father owned a novelty shop that was nestled among various other wizarding shops in Liverpool, though it was not as well known or visited a spot as Diagon Alley.  
“And Remus is going on holiday in France,” James said. “It’s going to be a lonely summer.”

“You’ll live, Prongs,” Sirius said dryly. “You can always spend your time practicing quidditch.”

“Speaking of quidditch. Who do you reckon will be made quidditch caption for next year?” James asked as Sirius popped the chocolate frog into his mouth.

“Dunno,” Sirius replied thickly around the chocolate. “I hope it’s not you, though. You’d be relentless.” 

“But we’d win,” James argued, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. “I think I’d be the perfect replacement for Adrien.”

Sirius snorted. “Of course you do. You’ve already got a big head and you haven’t even been made captain yet.”

“I make the most sense. I have the dedication we need. Adrien won us the cup this year because he spent a lot of time working on plays and worked us hard at practices.”

“He was a bloody slave driver,” Sirius interjected. “And I know you. You’ll be even worse. If you’re made captain.”

“Of course I’ll be made captain. Who else would it be?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Mason, for one,” he said, referring to his fellow beater, who would be a seventh year and had been a valuable asset to the team since he’d started playing his third year. “He’s more than capable.”

James shrugged. “Sure, I suppose. I’m still hoping it’s me, though.”

“Of course you are,” Sirius muttered.

“You’re being awfully quiet, Pete,” James said, ignoring Sirius and turning to his right to look at Peter, who’d been watching them quietly.

Peter shrugged. “Moony and I learned long ago to not get involved when the two of you are talking quidditch.”

“Hey,” Sirius spoke up, looking insulted. “I’m not nearly as bad as that one.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of James.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” James exclaimed.

“You’re obsessed, mate,” Sirius told him.

“I see nothing wrong with that.”

“Quidditch and Evans,” Sirius continued. “That’s all you think about.”

At Lily’s name, James’s eyes lit up. “Speaking of Evans,” he said excitedly. “I had a little chat with her this morning.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“How’d that go?” Peter asked, his eyes filling with curiosity. 

“Well, y’know that apology Moony’s been helping me with? I told her that I was sorry, and tried hard to stick to what he told me to say.”

“And?” Peter prompted when James offered no more.

“She accepted,” James replied, a huge grin spreading across his lips. “She even smiled at me.”

“Brilliant, mate,” Sirius told him.

“I know,” he gushed. “A perfect way to start off the summer, if I do say so myself. That’s all I said to her. I apologized, she smiled and accepted, I told her I’d see her around and then left. That way, I leave her wondering until September.”

Sirius snorted. “I don’t know about that mate, but I do applaud you for not throwing yourself at her for once.”

“Sirius?”

Their eyes turned towards the compartment door. Morgan Devereux stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame as she stared down at Sirius.

One corner of Sirius’s lips tilted up in a smile. “Morgan,” he said. “And how may I help you?”

She flicked her dark hair over her shoulder. “I have a compartment all to myself,” she told him, a small pout crossing her features, “And I was hoping for some company.”

‘A compartment all to myself’ likely meant that she had chased off a group of first years before coming to find Sirius, but he didn’t particularly care how she had come across an empty compartment. Throwing her an impish grin, he replied, “Go on without me. I’ll be right there.”

She smirked at him and slipped from the compartment, the door sliding shut after her. Still grinning, Sirius leaned back, folding his arms behind his head.

James rolled his eyes. “Have I called you a whore recently?”

“You’ve had your fair share of girls in the broom cupboard, Prongs,” Sirius pointed out. “Back before you completely devoted yourself to Lily.”

“I think I’d be more worried if Sirius ever turned down a girl’s advances,” Peter piped up. “Especially Morgan Devereux’s.”

“Like that would ever happen,” James said. “The day Sirius turns down a girl is the day Remus doesn’t turn into a fur ball every month.”

“Maybe I’ll surprise you one day, James,” Sirius said as he pushed himself to his feet.

“He says as he goes off to snog Morgan silly,” James called after him before Sirius closed the compartment door behind him.

The corridors were nearly deserted as he made his way down the train, searching for Morgan. He figured she’d probably found one towards the back and began making his way through the cars. It was when he’d stepped into the second-to-last car when his steps faltered. Further down the corridor, his path was blocked by a couple. Though her back was to him, he immediately recognized the girl as Samantha Dawson due to her long mane of wavy hair. The boy’s blonde hair hung in his face as he looked down at her, but he recognized him as well. He played on the Ravenclaw quidditch team. Oliver McCalman. The two of them had once dated, if he wasn’t mistaken.

He didn’t want to seem as if he was watching them, but they appeared to be in a heated conversation, if Oliver’s angry face was any indication, and he didn’t want to interrupt. He was saved from having to decide what to do, however, when Oliver’s eyes landed on him. Following his gaze, Samantha glanced over her shoulder. Her face was already twisted into a scowl, and when her eyes landed on Sirius, it deepened even more. Sirius had to give her credit. Her angry looks could rival that of Moony’s when he was trying to study and they were being too disruptive.

Oliver stared at him a moment longer before he turned back to Samantha. He said something else to her before he turned and strode away, disappearing into a compartment a little further down. Her arms crossed against her chest, Samantha leaned back against the wall of the train. Sirius only hesitated a moment before he approached her.

“We really ought to stop meeting like this,” he said as he approached, feeling as if it would be rude to simply walk by without a word, no matter how angry she already was. “I’m beginning to wonder about you. You’re always arguing with someone when I bump into you.”

Her eyes moved to him, and her scowl shifted into irritation. “It’s not my fault I’m surrounded by complete arses.”

His first instinct was to point out that she had once dated Oliver, and had therefore chosen to be around him, but he kept his mouth shut.

“What are you doing down here anyway?” she asked him. “I thought you’d be with your friends, doing whatever the four of you do.”

“I’m looking for Morgan,” Sirius told her. “She--“

“Came calling?” Samantha asked, raising her eyebrows and he could swear he saw the tiniest of smiles playing across her lips. “She came through just a few minutes ago,” she told him, nodding her head towards the last car. “I imagine she’s somewhere in there.”

“Thanks,” Sirius replied, throwing her a smile as he moved past her. As he made his way down the corridor, he turned back towards her, calling to her, “Hope you have a good summer.”

As he turned back around, he did not expect a reply, but a “You, too,” reached his ears just as he made to move into the next car. By the time he slipped into the compartment Morgan was waiting for him in, he’d forgotten all about his encounter with Samantha Dawson.

~~~

“It’s good to have you kids home again.”

Samantha glanced up from the blade of grass she was twirling in her fingers. She smiled, though her mother was not looking at her.

“It’s good to be home,” she replied.

Elizabeth Dawson was on her knees in her garden, pulling offending weeds from amongst what seemed like an endless sea of flowers. The flowers came from all over the world, and Elizabeth used a spell that kept them blooming year-round. Any other care for the garden, such as watering and weeding, she did without magic. She didn’t just love to sit and look at her garden. She loved to care for it.

Samantha sat behind her on the rich green grass of the lawn, and Elizabeth paused her work to glance over her shoulder at her daughter.

“You don’t have to say that just to make me feel good,” she said. “I know you miss Hogwarts when you’re away.”

“I do,” Samantha agreed. “But I miss you even more.”

A smile graced Elizabeth’s lips and she pushed the strands of blonde hair that had fallen in her face away before she turned back to her work. Across the garden, Samantha could just see her Aunt Tabitha’s black hair as she also worked on clearing weeds though she was using her wand.

With a sigh, she lay back in the grass, her gaze locked on the brilliant blue of the sky. It was a rare day when there were no clouds in sight, and sky went on forever, uninterrupted. Around her, birds sang songs to each other and she allowed her eyes to slid closed, finding the warm sun dancing across her skin relaxing. She cherished these peaceful moments. With the Death Eaters increasing their attacks, she worried more and more about her family, especially her father and uncle, who were both aurors, her father second in command only to Alastor Moody, the head auror.

Footsteps sounded from behind her but she did not bother to open her eyes. There were only two places she could go and not be on edge, and those two places were Hogwarts, where Dumbledore watched over his students, and home, which was surrounded by countless protection and detection charms. Anyone who apparated to their home had to walk half a mile up a dirt road to their gate because of the anti-apparation charms. Anyone who passed through the charm’s barriers with a dark mark would notify anyone inside the house of their presence. The charms were checked, and replaced if necessary, once a week. At home, she was safe.

The footsteps stopped beside her and she frowned when whoever it was stood between her and the warm sun rays that had been so relaxing. As she listened to the person settling themselves on the grass beside her, she opened her eyes to see who was still blocking the sun from her skin.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in surprise when she found it was her brother seated next to her. “Aren’t you supposed to be at headquarters?”

Just the last week, Adrien had gone through an extensive interview process after receiving his O.W.L. marks and finding them to meet the auror’s standards. This week, he had started training with the other handful of aurors that had been accepted into the program, and Moody was known for being relentless, keeping the trainees for long hours every day, pushing them to their limits. With the way the war was heading, he was taking no chances in making sure they were ready.

“He had to let us go early,” Adrien explained. “There was another attack on a muggle family.”

Samantha sighed. It was the second one that month. 

“Has your father gone over there?” Elizabeth asked, straightening from her work and pulling the gloves off of her hands. 

“Yeah,” he replied. “Most of the aurors are over there. They’re doing several tracking and forensic spells in hopes they can pinpoint exactly who did it so they can focus on specific death eaters. They can’t arrest them unless they have proof.”

Elizabeth nodded. “With the way things are headed, it won’t be long before they’re allowed to arrest anyone with a dark mark and then find their proof.”

They fell silent as they pondered what was too come. Things were already bad. They couldn’t imagine things getting worse, though they knew they would.

Wanting to change the subject, Elizabeth smiled down at Adrien. “I was just telling your sister how nice it was to have you kids home. Though I suppose you won’t be around too much longer.”

Adrien shrugged. “I’m in no hurry to move out.”

“He just doesn’t want to move out until he and Nichole decide to move in together,” Tabitha said as she walked over to them. Her thick black hair was tied back in her usual braid and her smile was bright.

“It’s just too much trouble finding a place to live,” he said. “If we do decide to move in together eventually, I’d rather wait until then so we can find something we both like.”  
“You’re just lazy,” Samantha told him.

“He’s in love,” Tabitha interjected. “You’ll know what it’s like one day. It’s a pity things didn’t work out between you and that Oliver boy. He was such a kind young man.”  
“Yeah,” Samantha said, smiling weakly. “A pity.”

Only Adrien took notice of her changed demeanor. 

“How about a bit of tea?” Elizabeth asked. “And I baked a batch of biscuits this morning that would go wonderfully with a cup.”

“Sounds fantastic,” Adrien replied, grinning up at his mother.

“I’ll come help,” Tabitha said, following her sister-in-law towards the house. “We’ll bring it out in a few minutes,” she called back to them over her shoulder.

After they had disappeared through the back door, silence fell between Adrien and Samantha. He watched her quietly as her eyes closed once more, her face turning away from him. 

“They wouldn’t bring him up,” he told her softly, “If you told them the real reason for breaking up with him.”

She let out a soft snort. “Yes, that would go over well.” She rolled her head across the grass to look at him. “Dad will want to murder him.”

Adrien frowned and plucked a blade of grass, twirling it between his fingers. “I’m not sure that would be a bad thing. The only reason I didn’t kill him that night was because you stopped me.”

She gave him a rueful smile. “I’m fairly certain the only thing that stopped you was Nichole. You were ready to shove me out of the way and hex him to oblivion despite what I asked.”

Adrien shrugged. “It’s what he deserved. And you didn’t stop James. He and his friends pulled that prank on him in front of the whole school.”

“All they did was humiliate him.”

“They got a detention for it,” he pointed out.

“And you would have gotten much worse,” she shot back. “I have no idea what you would have done while you were so angry, but it wouldn’t have been worth the consequences.”

“Fine,” Adrien said in surrender. “But he would have deserved it.”

“He was just being a typical boy,” she sighed.

Adrien shook his head. “You can’t have it in your mind that every boy is a controlling, cheating scumbag like Oliver McCalman. At this rate, you’ll never marry and give dad his grandchildren.”

She laughed. “He does want those rather badly, doesn’t he? I’m just glad he’s stopped throwing me and James at one another.”

“Dad and James’s father finally had to accept that just because the two of you have been best friends your whole lives didn’t mean you would fall madly in love with each other.”

“Thank Merlin. I thought dad would never stop trying to throw the two of us together.”

“Did you know that he asked me if Nichole and I had thought about what to name our children?” Adrien asked her in a loud whisper.

“What?” she exclaimed.

Adrien nodded. “Just the other morning when I went with him to headquarters for the first day of training.”

“And what did you say?” she asked curiously.

“I couldn’t say anything. I’d never given it any thought. We’ve only been dating a little over eight months. We haven’t even discussed living together yet, let alone children. I think I may have tried to answer but all I managed was a little stutter. Then he changed the subject.”

She shook her head, smiling broadly as she sat up. “All he wants are children so he can play and act like a fool with them and you won’t even let him have that.”

“Shut it, you,” he replied, reaching out and shoving her gently. “I’m a lot closer than you are to giving him grandchildren.”

“You’re also older,” she retorted, pushing herself to her feet as her mother and aunt appeared on the terrace, setting down cups of tea and a plate of biscuits on the table. “I still have two years left of school.”

Adrien laughed as he stood as well. “You’ve got me there. Somehow I don’t think he’d appreciate grandchildren from you before you’re even out of school.”

“We’re both a bit too young,” she said as they began to walk towards the house. “He’ll just have to be patient. There’s plenty of time, after all.”

Adrien agreed, and when Elizabeth asked what the two of them were laughing about, they’d told her it was nothing at all.


End file.
